[Momto2]

Hi ya"ll.... I haven't been around much since before Christmas... seems like the computer time gets less and less...

I need the advice of you veterans. We are fairly new horse owners... we currently have 3 on our 60+acres.

My dd 12 years old - has been offered this colt for free. HIs history is this - Mare arrived at barn - the owners didn't know she was with foal. She delivered in pasture in April (almost 2 years ago) in pouring rain. He almost died - was hand fed by bottle and is healthy. Nothing is known about stallion. He is about 14.3 now. Mare is nice quarter horse.

Nobody at the barn has any time to spend with him.

My dd wants to bring him home and work with him. Am I crazy to consider this... she is responsible and takes excellent care of her horse. He is very gentle - can put halter on him, pick up his feet, run hands all over him. that's all I know. Here are some pictures...

LOL - He needs to leave his mom

One last one - not the best pictures - it was very foggy today...

One one hand I think it would be a great project for her - we have plenty of room and she has the desire. On the other hand I think I'm crazy to consider taking this on - I don't want her to get hurt or for the colt to be ruined because we don't know what we are doing!! Thanks in advance fo your input!

[Momto2]

For those of you that remember the saga of my son's horse's hoof. Here is an update - He's been trimmed now for 5 months by the barefoot trim farrier. Before he could not stand on this foot to have the other shoe pulled off. Now he runs around and as you can see - the horrible split is growing out.... we can ride him now for short periods and he seems to have no pain....

I have a photo of the second trim I'll post later - you won't believe the improvement! We are so thankful....

[Duchess47]

JMO - if you take him, geld him immediately. Then, if he was bottle fed and hand fed he'll need to learn ground manners. It doesn't sound like he's got any major problems and he looks nice. He's not ready to ride yet but by the time he is, your daughter can have taught all the basics working up to it.

The biggest problem I can see is that if he has been a pet, and treated like a pet, he will be pushy and likely to hurt someone unless he learns soon what is and is not acceptable. He is likely to be more ready to trust you and willing to learn though.

[FrogInABlender]

I say go for it too. He sounds like he's been handled enough by experienced horse people to be easily trainable. The picking up the feet thing sounds really good. Alot of people never teach their young horses this and never have their feet trimmed until they are a big strapping 2yr old and then they wonder why the farrier is put out with them.

Like the others said, bottle babies are more pushy. I think it's because they think you are just another strange looking horse and can be rough-housed with accordingly. Just keep in mind that every time you interact with a horse of any age that SOMEBODY'S getting trained, one way or another, for better or worse and you've just got to make sure that it's YOU doing the training and not the other way around.

Horses assert their dominance over each other by testing who makes who move their feet. Don't let him barge into your space and don't let him touch you with any part of his body unless you ASK him to. Especially don't let him get away with putting his mouth on you. For some horses, it's like a game for them to see if they can do something they know their not supposed to and get by with it.

Sorry this post was so long.

[FrogInABlender]

Oh, and I forgot to say the most important thing! He's very pretty!

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

She would probably be OK, working with that horse. Some how, kids always seem to carry something like that off:)

Few pointers.

1. Most important, that the horse learns to repsect your daughters space. That he doesn't crowd, or isn't pushy with his head. I wouldn't advise any food treats. A pat on the neck is reward enough.

2. And he should be able to stand tied. If he doesn't know to stand tied yet, she needs to do it. To do it, make sure you have a good strong halter and lead rope that won't break, tie him to something solid, leave some slack but not enough that he could get a leg up over it, talk to him calmly, patting his neck, relaxing him. Then move slowly away. and wait till you see what he does when he bumps the end and realizes he's tied. He could really throw a fit, fall down. Don't untie him. Stay out of the way, but continue to talk to him calmly. It helps if he knows the whoa voice command before you tie him.

3. Actually, IMO, if he doesn't tie yet, this should be step 2, then do the tie up. Work on teaching him to lead properly, using voice commands ALWAYS, kiss to go forward, whoa when stopping. He should always stay in place. IMO:), ANY time you have a halter on a horse, they are working, so they should behave like that. Paying attention to the leader. When a horse has a halter on, it is not their fun time. It's your's:). It's their work time. That does not mean it has to be unpleasent for them, but they do need to learn it's time to go to work.

4. If he leads properly, and responds well to voice commands the next step would be lunging and or ground driving. That can be tricky with a horse whose never done it, but needs to be taught before any riding happens. Start by teaching him to walk the circle. IMO:) especially till they have lunging down real good, and respond perfect to voice commands, should NEVER be allowed to go faster then a trot. If they break into a lope or slow down to a walk, or trys to buck especially, you whoa them firmly (and whoa means a full and complete stop), then immediatly start them back up again. After they are doing it good I only let them trot. This is for a reason. If you "let" them walk they can get lazy, if you let them lope they can get out of control. The whole point of lunging is to teach them who is in control. Trotting is the hardest gait for a horse. If you make them stay at a trot, especially if they are wanting to walk/lope they learn you are controlling, they learn obedience. All of this transfers to when you start riding them.

Once a horse starts to get the idea, especially when first learning lunging, as soon as they go in a full circle around, you stop them. That's thier reward. Rest a few seconds, then try again. If a horse lunges properly, obeys voice commands, I never make them lunge longer then 2-3 complete circles, switch directions, and repeat. Once they do it both directions good, Stop. Lunging in my opinion is not to tire the horse out, but to either teach him to obey, or for one who already lunges properly to see their mood, and refresh for a young horse whose in control. When they don't do it properly you never stop:) Do it till they do it right. If you give up, they have won the battle, and the next time you try it will be twice as hard. But the letting them stop after they have done it right is important, it's the reward. Teaches them it's easier to do it right then to muck around. You'll get farther, IMO, with that reward then with all the food treats in the world.

And at some point lunging can/should be done with the saddle on. You don't have to start that way, but you can. Once they're tieing up and standing tied good (and once they do tie good, it's very good disipline tool to let them stand tied for an hour or so), you can go ahead and introduce them to a saddle. Then once he stands tied good with the saddle he can start lunging with it on.

Just remember to have him leading well and responding to voice commands first before starting the lunging.

These are just things to do with a young horse till they're old enough to ride, besides the grooming.

I'm sorry this got so long:), it's just hard to know what to tell you since I don't know where the horse is at training wise. He's plenty old enough to be doing all this stuff.

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

One more thing then I promise I'll stop:)

As I said it is good to let a horse stand tied for extended periods of time. It really makes working with one easier, IMO, if they HAVE stood tied for awhile before the other work starts. Teaches them patience. I most generally always tie, saddle then let them stand for awhile before doing anything else.

AND, it conteracts them being barn sour if you tie them up and let them stand AFTER the work out. Finishing workouts/rides should NEVER be the most pleasant part of it. Don't feed for awhile after a work out or ride. That just makes them anxious to get back to the barn. They need to learn that just because I get back to the barn something pleasant will happen. Make them work, let them stand tied, and even sometime take them out and make them work again.

All this is just IMO. Others may have different advise, everyone does things different:)

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

I think he sounds like a great project.... I see many have already offered similar advice about ground work that I would recommend... I would just add this:

She can take him now, work all the ground work on him for the next six months to a year, and get him all ready to be backed. When she can lunge, tie, saddle and drive him, at that point you and she can decide if you really want to to get on, much of it will depend on what you learn about his temperament and her skill and courage in teaching the other things. If there's any doubt, there's no harm in sending him to a trainer at that point for 60-90 days. Consider it his delayed purchase price ;~D